Kiftsgate Court Gardens
Encyclopedia
Kiftsgate Court Gardens is situated above the village of Mickleton
in the county of Gloucestershire
, in the far north of the county close to the county border with both Worcestershire
and Warwickshire
.
The gardens are the creation of three generations of women gardeners. Started by Heather Muir in the twenties
, continued by Diany Binny from 1950 and now looked after by Anne Chambers and her husband. Kiftsgate Court is presently the home of the Chambers family. The Kiftsgate Hundred was the ancient area surrounding Chipping Campden
. Even today the 'Kiftsgate Hundred' stone, where the elders met to administer justice, stands in Weston Park Wood above Chipping Campden. Included in the Hundred was Mickleton, called Mycclantune, meaning 'big village'.
It is a few hundred yards from the Hidcote Manor Garden
owned by the National Trust
.
stayed at Mickleton Manor, and it was he who inspired the planting of the elm
avenue
which used to run between Kiftsgate Court and Mickleton Manor - now alas, destroyed by Dutch Elm Disease
, along with countless other elms between 1972 and 1976. The line of Scotch firs
silhouetted against the sky between Kiftsgate and the Warwickshire
county boundary was also due to Shenstone's imaginative foresight, as were the lime trees bordering the front drive - although the house had not been thought of then. During the past fifty years most of these enormous trees have fallen. To replace them for future generations a row of six Tilia Petiolaris
have been planted.
Kiftsgate Court was built in 1887-91 by Sydney Graves Hamilton who owned the large manor house in Mickleton. An ancestor of his, Walwyn Graves (1744–1813), had built a Georgian
front with a high portico
on to Mickleton Manor, and it was this facade which was moved bodily up to the new site on Glyde Hill to become Kiftsgate Court. A special light railway was constructed up the elm avenue to do this and the records state that it was 'all to be done in the best manner possible and none but the very best material used'. Unfortunately a large Victorian
back was built behind the Georgian facade.
Mr. and Mrs. J. B. Muir, bought Kiftsgate in 1918 and at this time considerable internal alterations were made. A large ballroom occupying the entire wing on the first floor behind the portico was divided into bedrooms. Miss Hamilton, who owned Mickleton Manor, was said to have told Mrs Muir that the sprung floor of the ballroom was one of the most expensive items in the building of Kiftsgate. In 1954 they moved to the Front Lodge and their eldest daughter, Diany Binny and her husband Tony Binny came to live at Kiftsgate.
They pulled down three sides of a courtyard containing sixteen rooms which is now the gravelled forecourt used for parking coaches. In 1974 Mrs D. Binny moved to the Front Lodge, where she lived until her death in 2005. Kiftsgate remained empty until 1981 when Diany's eldest daughter Anne and her husband Jonathan undertook major modernisation of the house making their home in the central part and creating a separate flat and tea-room. Kiftsgate remains a family home as originally intended by the owners grandparents.
and copper beech
hedges planted.
Many people would have thought they had achieved enough but in 1930 the steep bank was tackled, and a summer house
with steps either side down to the lower garden was built.
The hard tennis court, now the modern water garden, was made in the thirties and the yew hedge was planted around it at the same time. During the war the tennis court, which required continual watering and upkeep, was allowed to become derelict and in 1955 there was a wonderful display of seedling roses and Scotch firs growing on it, which Mrs J.B. Muir was very grieved to see go, when it was resurfaced.
In making the garden at Kiftsgate there is no doubt that Heather Muir was greatly helped and inspired by her lifelong friend Major Lawrence Johnston
, who created the garden next door at Hidcote Manor. The flower picture in the tea-room at Hidcote was painted directly on the wall at Kiftsgate by Major Johnson and moved to Hidcote in 1981 by the National Trust
.
Kiftsgate first became well known to the gardening public after Graham Stuart Thomas
's article in the Royal Horticultural Society
Journal, May 1951, in which the great plantsman observed, "I regard this as the finest piece of skilled colour work that it has been my pleasure to see."
In April 1954 the magazine Gardening had an illustration of the Yellow Border on its cover and inside an article by A.G.L. Hellyer, reporting that
, which is shade-tolerant and very vigorous. It is claimed that the Rosa filipes
'Kiftsgate' is the largest rose in Britain measuring 80 feet (24.4 m) x 90 feet x 50 feet (15.2 m) high at last measurement, as reported on the Kiftsgate website. It was planted in 1938 and named by Graham Stuart Thomas
in 1951. The same official website says that it would be even larger were it not cut back, and the owners fear for the integrity of the beech tree which it has colonised owing to the weight of its foliage.
Mickleton, Gloucestershire
Mickleton, with a population of 1551 , is the northernmost village in Gloucestershire, England.- Location :Mickleton lies close to the county border with Worcestershire and Warwickshire....
in the county of Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....
, in the far north of the county close to the county border with both Worcestershire
Worcestershire
Worcestershire is a non-metropolitan county, established in antiquity, located in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire" NUTS 2 region...
and Warwickshire
Warwickshire
Warwickshire is a landlocked non-metropolitan county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, although the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare...
.
The gardens are the creation of three generations of women gardeners. Started by Heather Muir in the twenties
1920s
File:1920s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: Third Tipperary Brigade Flying Column No. 2 under Sean Hogan during the Irish Civil War; Prohibition agents destroying barrels of alcohol in accordance to the 18th amendment, which made alcoholic beverages illegal throughout the entire decade; In...
, continued by Diany Binny from 1950 and now looked after by Anne Chambers and her husband. Kiftsgate Court is presently the home of the Chambers family. The Kiftsgate Hundred was the ancient area surrounding Chipping Campden
Chipping Campden
Chipping Campden is a small market town within the Cotswold district of Gloucestershire, England. It is notable for its elegant terraced High Street, dating from the 14th century to the 17th century...
. Even today the 'Kiftsgate Hundred' stone, where the elders met to administer justice, stands in Weston Park Wood above Chipping Campden. Included in the Hundred was Mickleton, called Mycclantune, meaning 'big village'.
It is a few hundred yards from the Hidcote Manor Garden
Hidcote Manor Garden
Hidcote Manor Garden is a garden located on the outskirts of the small village of Hidcote Bartrim, near Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire, England and owned by the National Trust....
owned by the National Trust
National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty
The National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, usually known as the National Trust, is a conservation organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland...
.
History
In about 1750 the poet and landscape gardener William ShenstoneWilliam Shenstone
William Shenstone was an English poet and one of the earliest practitioners of landscape gardening through the development of his estate, The Leasowes.-Life:...
stayed at Mickleton Manor, and it was he who inspired the planting of the elm
Elm
Elms are deciduous and semi-deciduous trees comprising the genus Ulmus in the plant family Ulmaceae. The dozens of species are found in temperate and tropical-montane regions of North America and Eurasia, ranging southward into Indonesia. Elms are components of many kinds of natural forests...
avenue
Avenue (landscape)
__notoc__In landscaping, an avenue or allée is traditionally a straight route with a line of trees or large shrubs running along each, which is used, as its French source venir indicates, to emphasize the "coming to," or arrival at a landscape or architectural feature...
which used to run between Kiftsgate Court and Mickleton Manor - now alas, destroyed by Dutch Elm Disease
Dutch elm disease
Dutch elm disease is a disease caused by a member of the sac fungi category, affecting elm trees which is spread by the elm bark beetle. Although believed to be originally native to Asia, the disease has been accidentally introduced into America and Europe, where it has devastated native...
, along with countless other elms between 1972 and 1976. The line of Scotch firs
Scots Pine
Pinus sylvestris, commonly known as the Scots Pine, is a species of pine native to Europe and Asia, ranging from Scotland, Ireland and Portugal in the west, east to eastern Siberia, south to the Caucasus Mountains, and as far north as well inside the Arctic Circle in Scandinavia...
silhouetted against the sky between Kiftsgate and the Warwickshire
Warwickshire
Warwickshire is a landlocked non-metropolitan county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, although the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare...
county boundary was also due to Shenstone's imaginative foresight, as were the lime trees bordering the front drive - although the house had not been thought of then. During the past fifty years most of these enormous trees have fallen. To replace them for future generations a row of six Tilia Petiolaris
Tilia
Tilia is a genus of about 30 species of trees native throughout most of the temperate Northern Hemisphere. The greatest species diversity is found in Asia, and the genus also occurs in Europe and eastern North America, but not western North America...
have been planted.
Kiftsgate Court was built in 1887-91 by Sydney Graves Hamilton who owned the large manor house in Mickleton. An ancestor of his, Walwyn Graves (1744–1813), had built a Georgian
Georgian architecture
Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1720 and 1840. It is eponymous for the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I of Great Britain, George II of Great Britain, George III of the United...
front with a high portico
Portico
A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls...
on to Mickleton Manor, and it was this facade which was moved bodily up to the new site on Glyde Hill to become Kiftsgate Court. A special light railway was constructed up the elm avenue to do this and the records state that it was 'all to be done in the best manner possible and none but the very best material used'. Unfortunately a large Victorian
Victorian architecture
The term Victorian architecture refers collectively to several architectural styles employed predominantly during the middle and late 19th century. The period that it indicates may slightly overlap the actual reign, 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901, of Queen Victoria. This represents the British and...
back was built behind the Georgian facade.
Mr. and Mrs. J. B. Muir, bought Kiftsgate in 1918 and at this time considerable internal alterations were made. A large ballroom occupying the entire wing on the first floor behind the portico was divided into bedrooms. Miss Hamilton, who owned Mickleton Manor, was said to have told Mrs Muir that the sprung floor of the ballroom was one of the most expensive items in the building of Kiftsgate. In 1954 they moved to the Front Lodge and their eldest daughter, Diany Binny and her husband Tony Binny came to live at Kiftsgate.
They pulled down three sides of a courtyard containing sixteen rooms which is now the gravelled forecourt used for parking coaches. In 1974 Mrs D. Binny moved to the Front Lodge, where she lived until her death in 2005. Kiftsgate remained empty until 1981 when Diany's eldest daughter Anne and her husband Jonathan undertook major modernisation of the house making their home in the central part and creating a separate flat and tea-room. Kiftsgate remains a family home as originally intended by the owners grandparents.
The Gardens
The garden at Kiftsgate up to 1920 consisted of the paved formal garden in front of the portico, beyond which was a plain grass field with wooded banks. The first thing Mrs J.B. Muir did was to make a lawn with steps leading to it from the formal paved garden, this was quickly followed by taking in what is now the Yellow Border and the Rose Border; the connecting bridge was built and the yewTaxus
Taxus is a genus of yews, small coniferous trees or shrubs in the yew family Taxaceae. They are relatively slow-growing and can be very long-lived, and reach heights of 1-40 m, with trunk diameters of up to 4 m...
and copper beech
Copper beech
Copper beech may refer to:*An ornamental cultivar of the European Beech, Fagus sylvatica*The Adventure of the Copper Beeches, a Sherlock Holmes story by Arthur Conan Doyle, part of the collection "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes"...
hedges planted.
Many people would have thought they had achieved enough but in 1930 the steep bank was tackled, and a summer house
Summer house
A summer house or summerhouse has traditionally referred to a building or shelter used for relaxation in warm weather. This would often take the form of a small, roofed building on the grounds of a larger one, but could also be built in a garden or park, often designed to provide cool shady places...
with steps either side down to the lower garden was built.
In making the garden at Kiftsgate there is no doubt that Heather Muir was greatly helped and inspired by her lifelong friend Major Lawrence Johnston
Lawrence Johnston
Major Lawrence Waterbury Johnston was a British soldier and garden creator.- Early years & military career :Johnston was born in Paris, France, into a family of wealthy American East Coast stockbrokers from Baltimore. He went to England to study at Trinity College, Cambridge. Soon after his...
, who created the garden next door at Hidcote Manor. The flower picture in the tea-room at Hidcote was painted directly on the wall at Kiftsgate by Major Johnson and moved to Hidcote in 1981 by the National Trust
National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty
The National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, usually known as the National Trust, is a conservation organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland...
.
Kiftsgate first became well known to the gardening public after Graham Stuart Thomas
Graham Stuart Thomas
Graham Stuart Thomas OBE , was an English horticulturalist, artist, author, poet and garden designer.He was born in Cambridge and studied in the University Botanic Garden at Cambridge University...
's article in the Royal Horticultural Society
Royal Horticultural Society
The Royal Horticultural Society was founded in 1804 in London, England as the Horticultural Society of London, and gained its present name in a Royal Charter granted in 1861 by Prince Albert...
Journal, May 1951, in which the great plantsman observed, "I regard this as the finest piece of skilled colour work that it has been my pleasure to see."
Each rose bush has grown to its maximum proportions and to the conventional gardener these proportions will come as a revelation. Yet despite the luxuriance of Kiftsgate it is a garden upon which an extremely firm hand and a very discerning eye have been kept. There is nothing of the wilderness here and one is immediately conscious that everything is in its place and is there for a definite purpose. That purpose is to produce a series of pictures in colour that are rich but never glaring. They are the colours I associate with fine tapestry.
Kiftsgate rose
The gardens are well known for the famous Kiftsgate rose, a scented climbing roseRose
A rose is a woody perennial of the genus Rosa, within the family Rosaceae. There are over 100 species. They form a group of erect shrubs, and climbing or trailing plants, with stems that are often armed with sharp prickles. Flowers are large and showy, in colours ranging from white through yellows...
, which is shade-tolerant and very vigorous. It is claimed that the Rosa filipes
Rosa filipes
Rosa filipes is a species of rose native to western China, in Gansu, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Xizang, and Yunnan.It is a deciduous climbing shrub, growing to 3–5 m, rarely up to 9 m tall. The leaves are pinnate, 8–14 cm long, with 5-7 leaflets. The flowers are white, 2-2.5 cm diameter with five...
'Kiftsgate' is the largest rose in Britain measuring 80 feet (24.4 m) x 90 feet x 50 feet (15.2 m) high at last measurement, as reported on the Kiftsgate website. It was planted in 1938 and named by Graham Stuart Thomas
Graham Stuart Thomas
Graham Stuart Thomas OBE , was an English horticulturalist, artist, author, poet and garden designer.He was born in Cambridge and studied in the University Botanic Garden at Cambridge University...
in 1951. The same official website says that it would be even larger were it not cut back, and the owners fear for the integrity of the beech tree which it has colonised owing to the weight of its foliage.
Trivia
- The house features in England's Thousand Best Houses by Sir Simon JenkinsSimon JenkinsSir Simon David Jenkins is a British newspaper columnist and author, and since November 2008 has been chairman of the National Trust. He currently writes columns for both The Guardian and London's Evening Standard, and was previously a commentator for The Times, which he edited from 1990 to 1992...
- In 2003 Kiftsgate Court Gardens was named Historic Houses AssociationHistoric Houses AssociationThe Historic Houses Association, a not for profit organsiation, represents 1,500 privately owned historic country houses, castles and gardens throughout the UK. These are listed buildings or registered gardens, usually Grade I or II* and often outstanding....
- Christie'sChristie'sChristie's is an art business and a fine arts auction house.- History :The official company literature states that founder James Christie conducted the first sale in London, England, on 5 December 1766, and the earliest auction catalogue the company retains is from December 1766...
Garden of the Year
External links
- Kiftsgate Court Gardens
- Kiftsgate at the Chipping Campden website
- The Royal Horticultural Society details on Kiftsgate
- Kiftsgate at The Historic Houses Association
- Photos of Kiftsgate Court Gardens at geograph.org.uk